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Monday, July 10, 2017

Appellate court rules Nurul Izzah did not defame NFC and Salleh

The Court of Appeal today unanimously dismissed an appeal by the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) Sdn Bhd and its chairperson Mohd Salleh Ismail in their defamation suit against PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar.

A three-member bench led by Justice Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim upheld the High Court’s decision in ruling that what was uttered by Nurul Izzah was not defamatory and has to do with something happening in her Lembah Pantai constituency where the KL Eco-City project is located.

The appellate court also agreed with the finding of the fact that the RM71.4 million loan given by the government deposited in Public Bank was used as a leverage in the purported purchase of eight properties.

The Court of Appeal also ordered NFC and Salleh to pay RM50,000 costs to Nurul.

The other two judges comprising the bench were Justice Mary Lim and Justice Badariah Sahamid.

The decision was confirmed to Malaysiakini by lawyer Razlan Hadri Zulkifli, who appeared for Nurul Izzah.

Salleh and NFC were represented by lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.

It was reported that the Justice Hue Siew Kheng had dismissed NFC and Salleh's suit in March last year and ruled that Nurul Izzah did not defame them in the purchase of the eight units.

Justice Hue further ruled that the PKR vice-president was justified in making the press statement and that she had no malice over the matter.

“The law requires the whole statement to be considered and to be read as a whole.

“I agree with the defendant that the statement, read as a whole, is not defamatory of the plaintiffs as the press statement was made by the defendant in her capacity and position as Lembah Pantai MP,” she had ruled.

Salleh and NFC sued Nurul Izzah in December 2013 over a statement she made relating to Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli's claim that he had bought eight properties at KL Eco City with public funds allocated to NFC.

In his statement of claim, Salleh said the statement implied that he and his family had misappropriated NFC funds to buy the properties for their personal use and not for the company.

In the end, Salleh did not take up the loan facility offered by Public Bank.- Mkini